Category Archives: Events/Races

Getting yourself motivated for winter runs is never easy, especially if you’re taking it up for a new year’s fitness regime. However, this might all be about to change, thanks to the Jantastic running challenge.

The Jantastic running challenge is looking to inspire all runners

Created by the organisers of running podcast Marathon Talk and backed by English Athletics and Adidas, Jantastic is a free running challenge which looks to inspire all ages and abilities to start or continue running in 2014. Registration is now open, and over 5,000 people have already signed up. In 2013, the challenge saw more than 125,000 runs and 600,000 miles logged, with a bigger total targeted for 2014.

Launching with a new website www.jantastic.me, the challenge will see the creation of an online running community which organisers hope will help get people started and running more and faster through the difficult winter months between January and March.

There are a wealth of fitness apps available for smartphone users now, but so far none has focused on the challenge of ensuring that you stay energised throughout your exercise. However, that issue could well now be solved by new app Fuel My Run.

Nutrition is a crucial aspect for long-distance runners, and with prospective marathon runners getting stuck into their training across the winter period, fuelling needs are paramount in order to get results.

Fuel My Run is aiming to make fuelling up easier, providing distance calculation, fuelling reminders, carbohydrate consumption data, and plans for keeping nutrients in check during long workouts.

Users can input the different types of fuel they will use to simulate a race environment

Based on creator Mark Kennedy’s personal marathoning experience, Fuel My Run provides a fresh new take on a challenging and complex element of endurance sports: keeping carbohydrate levels up during long, difficult workouts. After hitting the wall at the 30km mark, Kennedy realized that he had overlooked his personal fuelling strategy-a common oversight for even the most experienced runner.

“More often than not, its lack of adequate fuelling that causes a runner to hit the wall. All the training in the world will not help a runner in those last few kilometres of a race unless they have taken their fuelling seriously. Fuel My Run is the tool I wish I had while training for my second marathon,” Kennedy says.

We here at TechRunner love a clever ad campaign, and ASICS’ 2011 Ryan Hall marathon pace billboard challenge was one of our favourites. Thankfully, the company resurrected the campaign last weekend to promote the 2013 ING New York City Marathon – only this time with a twist.

Two years ago, it was a billboard in a Subway station, allowing anyone passing by to try and keep up with elite U.S. marathoner Hall for just 60 feet. This year, in advance of the 2013 ING New York City Marathon, ASICS set up the “Treadmill Challenge”.

The treadmill challenge pitted contestants against the pace of one of the world’s quickest marathon runners

The company took to its website to promote,” a treadmill that only runs at the speeds of America’s fastest marathoners”, driving it around New York to let people jump on and see how long they can keep up.

ROUTE: Taking in three of London’s most iconic royal parks (Hyde Park, Green Park and St. James’ Park) as well as passing by Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament before a quick trip alongside the Embankment, this is one of the most visually stunning races in England. The chance to run along the aforementioned roads, alongside Whitehall and through Admiralty Arch down onto the Mall before passing right by Buckingham Palace is pretty spectacular, and can normally only be partially achieved in the London Marathon.

The route takes in many of London’s most famous sites

But it’s the parks themselves that are the real winner here. Taking place just as the seasons are changing, and just early enough in the morning that it’s not too busy, the race gives you the opportunity to experience Hyde Park in particular at its finest. And when the weather is as good as it was last Sunday, there’s nowhere more appealing in London (except maybe Hampstead Heath) to run.

Following his runner-up performance at the weekend’s Great North Run and ahead of a crack at next April’s London Marathon, Nike is giving a team of top designers the task of delivering Mo Farah with the company’s best ever running shoe.

During a pre-world championships training stint in St. Moritz, Switzerland, a group of Nike employees watched Farah train as part of what Farah’s coach, Alberto Salazar, called, “the information-gathering stage.”

“This is a million-dollar project, once the expenses of travel, testing, research and design are accounted for”, said Farah’s coach, adding that there were close to 25 people at the first meeting about the shoe that both he and Farah attended.

The race organisers of the Greater Manchester Marathon reintroduced the event in 2012 after a decade’s absence, and based on the continuous growth and popularity, this year’s race’s capacity is set at 10,000 places. Using the same flat route as in 2013, the start, finish and race village will be at Manchester United Football Club in Old Trafford.

The route has an elevation gain of around only 54 m, meaning that it can boast the flattest, fastest marathon route in the UK, attracting runners of all levels after having established itself as a unique race not to miss in the running calendar.

The city has had a half-marathon before, but this is the first time that a full marathon will be run on the streets of the city.

The marathon route will follow the city’s quays, main streets, including the Sadovoe and Bulvarnoe Rings. The race will start from the “Luzhniki” sports complex built for the 1980 Olympic Games. The final meters will be at the Olympic Stadium, the “Luzhniki” Grand Sports Arena.

This latter part of the route will be unique for the 2013 race, as after the event, the Olympic Stadium will be rebuilt, meaning the Moscow Marathon will be the last major sporting event to take place on its site.

Runners stream through the start at the We Own The Night race in London’s Victoria Park (copyright Getty Images)

Nike’s “We Own The Night” women-only 10k run was held in London’s Victoria Park last Saturday, mixing together a great running location with a party atmosphere which will helpfully inspire many more women to take up running.

We’ve mentioned the event on here before, and it’s fantastic to see it was such a success. Runners joined celebrities including London Marathon winner Paula Radcliffe to take part in the race through East London as the sun set.

Prior to the race, there was a fantastic party atmosphere, the factor which sets these runs apart from other daytime races, and something it’s clear to see will become part of many more events in the future. A multi-coloured route saw participants run to the sound of disco music, accompanied by smoke machines and glowsticks all the way round

Radcliffe stated, “It’s amazing to see such a young and inspiring group of women coming together to celebrate their newfound love of running. This has been a truly unique six-week training journey and I’m delighted to be here to celebrate with the girls on race day.”

Nike Who? Runtastic Boasts 25 Million Mobile Users – We covered their partnership with Pebble last week, but Runtastic’s app seems to be going from strength to strength. The company has just announced its hit 25 million mobile users – as much as Nike+ (11 million as of February) and RunKeeper (14 million) combined. Its website, Runtastic.com, also has 10 million registered users. (Mashable)

How wearable tech Is changing running – A great feature on how wearable technology is transforming running, from simple pace trackers and heartbeat monitors to newer devices such as the Nike Fuelband, which is taking exercise into the 21st century. Stay tuned for much more on this area on TR.org soon…(Allvocies.com)

Bored with your long weekend daytime runs? Looking for a bit of excitement for your exercise regime? Bit of a raver? Then a new series of races from Nike could be right up your street.

Called We Own the Night, Nike’s new 10K series for women will get underway this month in London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Milan, and Paris, with the race kicking off as late as 10pm in some cities and always ending in a party. The event is organized via Facebook and the Nike+ running app, and includes a six-week training plan and “Train to Run” workout sessions.

Featuring an array of glow sticks, pulsing music and smoke machines, these races should definitely appeal to those runners sick of ordinary daytime races.